THE BEE-KEEPERS' REVIEW 



25 



about keeping^ fanc}' poultry (and he 

 was right), and said, "I am using 

 ever}' effort at this time of the year, 

 through feed, etc., to keep these pullets 

 from laying now, for those which lay 

 when eggs at the groceries are the 

 highest are not apt to lay much in the 

 spring, when I can sell my eggs at ten 

 times as much, egg for egg, as I can 

 during the winter months." 



This &et me to thinking regarding 

 the bees, and reminded me that the 

 queen which bred too prolitically "out 

 of season" was not the one which gave 

 the best results when the honey harvest 

 was on. 



I have often noticed that a colony 

 which wintered extremely well, so 

 that the queen goes to breeding very 

 rapidly in the earl}' spring, does not 

 equal the one which come^ out in an 

 average condition, but commences 

 brood rearing in earnest about May 

 20th or 30th. The reason is that by 

 June 10th the queen in the stronger one 

 ceases to be as prolific as the other, 

 or becomes like the man's hens which 

 are laying prolifioally in mid-winter; 

 they giving few eggs in the spring, 

 just at the time when his eggs bring 

 him the best price. 



So the early strong colony spends all 

 its best force at producing bees pre- 

 maturely, bringing them on the stage 

 of action too earl}- to take advantage 

 of the main honey harvest, while the 

 queen ceases her prolificness just in 

 time so that what workers there are 

 store their first honey in the brood- 

 combs, thus crowding the queen down 

 to less and less room, with very little 

 honey in the sections. 



It has been noticed by very many, 

 and many times, that if the bees are 

 allowed to get the start of the queen so 

 as to make any general storing of 

 honey in the brood chamber before en- 

 tering the sections, during the first of 

 the honey harvest, such a colony will 

 not give the best results in section 

 honey. And for these reasons I work 

 as does my poultry-fancying neighbor, 

 to discourage all extra-prolific brood- 

 rearing, except at the time when such 

 prolific breeding will bring the bees in 

 just the right time for the main honey- 

 flow, be that from white clover, bass- 

 wood, or buckwheat, or all three. 



Then when the harvest arrives, if I 

 find colonies which do not have a hive 

 more than half full of brood, dummies 

 are put in to take the place of the 

 combs containing no brood; and in this 

 way I am enabled to make the colony 



containing only 30,000 bees produce 

 nearly as much section honey as does 

 the one which has come up to the honey 

 harvest in the desired condition. 



The colony given to early breeding 

 can in a measure be restrained by 

 allowing it a scanty supply of stores, 

 and contracting the room in the brood- 

 chamber with dummies till the time 

 comes for the rush of brood, when it 

 will "rush to the rescue" when you 

 wish it to do so by filling out the hive 

 with combs having a liberal supply of 

 honey in them. 



Those g-iven to late brood-rearing 

 can be hurried along, when the right 

 time comes, by giving a frame of brood 

 from one which "has run a little too 

 fast," together with stores sufficient 

 to make them feel in a prosperous con- 

 dition, thus bringing all up to the 

 rig-ht point just at the right time, and 

 when best to take advantage of the 

 main honey-flow when it is on. 



It is the attending to such items as 

 these in bee-culture that gives the best 

 success. 



I often recall an experience of my 

 first year's bee-keeping. I started 

 with four colonies. Three of them 

 were quite strong at the opening of the 

 season; the other, while not exactly 

 weak, did not contain more than half 

 as many bees as either of the other 

 three. At the opening of the main 

 harvest the three populous colonies 

 were not so z'er}' much more populous 

 than they were at first, while the 

 weaker colony had gradually increased 

 until it was nearly as populous as any 

 of the other. Still further, it ^epi rie^ht 

 on increasing, until it surpassed the 

 others, and it and its swarms stored a 

 third more honey than any of the other 

 three that were so promising early in 

 the season. 



I also remember another year when I 

 had taken the bees from the cellar, and 

 dug some out of some clamps, that I 

 felt so proud of a few colonies, they 

 were so full of bees, that I called my 

 wife down from thi' house that she 

 might join me in my admiration. 

 Those colonies did nothing remarkable 

 in the way of storing honey, being far 

 surpassed by colonies that had not 



